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Fun facts about Easter

Easter is right around the corner. Check out some fun facts about this spring holiday.

America's first Sunrise Service — an Easter Mass held early enough for congregants to witness the dawn's first rays together — was held in 1773 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, organized by the Moravians, which is a church with its roots in the present-day Czech Republic.

After Halloween, Easter is the biggest candy consuming holiday.

Chocolate Easter bunnies are hollow for safety reasons. The hollow center of the traditional chocolate bunny helps make it easier to eat. It’s also more economically viable for the candy confectioner.

Faberge Easter eggs, like the one displayed here, is a tradition originated in Russia where each intricately detailed egg was filled with its own surprise and given as a gift.

Some of the earliest Easter treats where the hot cross buns, made by the monks. They are an Easter treat primarily eaten in Great Britain.

Marshmallow Peeps are celebrating their 60th anniversary this year. Each Easter season, Americans buy more than 700 million Peeps, shaped like chicks, as wellas Marshmallow Bunnies and Marshmallow Eggs.

Most countries celebrate Easter a bit differently, but Ethiopia celebrates Easter later than everyone, anywhere from a week to two weeks after the western Church (sometimes, they occur at the same time, due to the vagaries of the Eastern Orthodox calendar, which Ethiopians follows).

Easter eggs appear in many ancient traditions all over the world as a symbol for life, or life's beginnings. In medieval Europe, eggs were often one of the first foods — blessed by a priest of course — eaten after the Lenten fast.

The very first Easter baskets had the appearance of a birds nest, but baskets today come in all shapes and colors.

One of the most well-known Easter traditions in America is the annual Easter Egg Roll that dates all the way back to President Andrew Johnson. Interestingly, there was a brief point in our nation’s history when holding an Easter egg roll on the Capitol grounds was a violation of federal law.